Before & After : Creative thinking in business

Have you ever gotten an idea that could improve lives, drive a company, shift a market, even make billions, and then forgotten it entirely?

How do you know?

Ever get just a fragment of an idea that could have led to any of the above? Again, if you don’t recall, how do you know?

As much as I believe in the “blink!” theory, and try to practice it whenever I can, I also know that often that moment of creative truth comes after much mulling and ruminating and prodding and cultivating of a previously processed observation or insight.

Sometimes the creative process is just that, a process. And, as with any process, if you leave something out, like a pivotal idea in the thought chain, well, the entire process could be derailed.

There is a simple way to insure against some of this creative waste. (more…)

No, sorry. Common minds think alike. Great minds have different ideas. Very different ideas.

We hear it a lot. “Great minds think alike.” We even say it ourselves. Particularly when someone else has the same idea we have. No delusion there.

Yeah, it’s only an expression. And, yeah, often times it’s probably said with a wink. But the truth is great minds are much less likely to fall into the same old thought patterns that lead to predictable ideas. And we mere mortals, when we’re at our creative best, we’re not entertaining common ideas either.

I could talk about finding original ideas as an individual. But, of course, that’s what we discuss in 90% of the posts in this blog. So how about putting this in the context of group brainstorming, where a bunch of people are thinking about the same issue? So, in group think isn’t similar thinking validation that an idea is good? No, it’s validation that an idea is common and probably not particularly differentiating from a marketing standpoint. (more…)

People often think there’s a lot of mystery around creativity. Great ideas only happen when the stars are in alignment. There are only so many truly great ideas. Only the chosen few are creative. Bunk. Bunk. And bunk.

There are a chosen few, all right. And I think they are the ones perpetuating these myths.

There is a great deal of method to the madness in the world of creativity. Oh, it will never be entirely exact. I mean, we are talking about the human imagination here, right? But there are some parts of the creative process that are actually very exact - quantifiable even.

One of those things is the law of large numbers, or simply put; more is more.

“You mean if I come up with more ideas I’ll have more ideas?”

Exactly.

“Will they all be great ideas?”

Let’s keep talking. (more…)

You know my favorite way of being creative?

Bumblebee sex.

You’ve seen bumblebees going from flower to flower. They think they’re sampling the buffet of sweet nectars from the garden. The flowers know better. They’re creating.

That’s pretty much how I like to work out a creative challenge. Or better yet, a few challenges at once. (I’d guess I’m drafting 6 or 8 blog posts at this very time.)

Besides being one of the most effective and efficient paths to fresh ideas, and in spite of it’s seeming on-again/off-again appearance, this method is also a pretty fast way to find creative solutions. And in these time-pressed times, who isn’t looking for a way to manitain creative quality. (more…)

I used to conduct creative camps back when I first got into the creative coaching field. These camps were more about personal creativity than creative thinking in business, but, the majority of attendees were people from the business world, so I guess it’s okay for me to use one of our camp exercies to make a point at this blog.

This exercise I intermittently called “guitar case history” or “coloring inside the lines.” In the exercise I’d give participants a worksheet and a box of crayons. The worksheet had a dozen guitar case outlines, each at different angles; each with a little number next to it, 1 - 12. The assignment: what do you see in this shape? (See worksheet and various executions below.) (more…)

One of the best gifts I got this Christmas is Twyla Tharp’s “The Creative Habit.”

Like most good self-development books, the premise is very simple and speaks to a universal truth: you want to create more, create more often. Like, everyday.

Of course, most of us know this. But do we practice it? I mean do we really practice it?

For Twyla Tharp the daily canvas is her “white room,” as she calls the dance studio where she starts every creative project; alone, only accompanied by the potential of a great dance. What’s your canvas? Are you working at it daily to stay sharp? (more…)

There’s a segment in Andy Dick’s Bush speechwriter parody right after he pinpoints topics (by throwing darts at stickies with words on them - war, taxes, muffin, etc.) “…then I sleep on them….” he says.

And at that he has the stickies scattered across his bed, then jumps on them in his Uncle Sam boxers, “…and I see what sticks…” only to awake in the morning with Post-its stuck all over his body. Bingo. A speech.

It’s a pretty funny segment in an uproariously funny video. The only part that’s not so funny is that most people aren’t this smart when they approach idea generation or problem solving.

The most prolific idea person in America totally believed in “sleeping on it.” And it led to thousands and thousands of ideas, 1042 of them patent-worthy. (more…)

I love hearing about the thinking behind creative endeavors. I get a real charge out of watching the “making of “ bonus scenes on movie DVDs, sometimes more than the film itself. I eat up the stories behind breakthrough moments in the development of new products or entire technologies. I totally dig the “Behind the Music” shows on VH1. These glimpses into the creative process can be so revealing.”

Do you have any favorite magical creative moments? I’d love to hear them. Here are a few of mine. (more…)

You don’t always have to create. Sometimes you can just recognize the potential for a great idea in something that already exists.

I believe you can divide the creative process into two fundamental methods, if you will; active and passive creativity. Active: consciously looking for new ideas. And, passive: simply being open to new ideas.

When you look at creativity with this in mind you might see a surprisingly large portion of fresh ideas emerge in this latter, more receptive manner. And one of my favorite categories of creative exploration that demonstrates this quite frequently is song writing. (more…)

25 years ago a couple of my fellow Rhode Islanders were discussing the fate of ocean life due to pollution and over fishing. One was scientist, Ken Sherman, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the other, his neighbor, Lewis Alexander, a geographer at our state university.

These two diverse backgrounds led to a joint perspective that has changed the way the world looks at managing ocean life. A quarter of a century, and some three billion dollars later our global waters are beginning to be managed, not along political boundaries as in the past, but by ecological definitions of space.

Sometimes it takes a unique blend of personalities, past experiences and mindsets to create the condition for a certain great idea. When these two open minded individuals made their seemingly absurd insight, that fish don’t carry passports, that fresh perspective led to sea change, if you’ll allow me such a pun, that will likely benefit you and I at the dinner table for years, not to mention our children and their children.

When wrestling with a big problem or looking for new ideas to attack a great opportunity we most often seek the advice of someone who has been there. But when you tap into a mind that is unencumbered by “what is” in any field, those who don’t know what can’t be done, there is a potential for great ideas that usually doesn’t happen when people close to a topic think it through. (more…)